Land Rover to produce V8 version of Defender 90

Land Rover has produced the 90 three-door version of the Defender. Photo: Land Rover

As deliveries begin for Land Rover Defender’s 90 after supply chain interruptions, the brand is set to produce a V8 next year.

Scoop pictures show the 90 in testing with the V8 which will either be sourced from Land Rover in a 5.0-litre version or via BMW in a 4.4-litre V8 version.

The SVX V8 90 will be good for 0-100 km/h in around 4.5 seconds and could have up to 460kW of power. This will make for one very desirable Defender model, with the 90 being 50cm shorter than the 110 model, but still being able to seat up to six adults.

The 70th anniversary editions of the previous 90 and 110 sold in 2018 in V8 guise, as re-outfitted models of pre-2016 manufactured cars. Only 150 were produced and sold, new, at prices of in excess of NZ$285,000.

These new V8s should be cheaper but it’s expected the 90 and 110 V8s will sell at over the NZ$200,000 mark.